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Health Educators Should Learn from the Entertainment Industry

The information age has made the public extremely knowledgeable on almost every topic there is. Whether it’s about politics, business, science, technology or health, most of us have easy access to the information that exists on any given subject.

Before the Internet – if you are old enough to remember that there once was such a time – things were different. You had to go to a bookstore or a library and study up if you wanted to know about something in greater detail. Now, it’s all literally at your fingertips. We are all experts now.

While there is nothing wrong with a better-informed society – to the contrary – these changes have certain consequences we need to be aware of. Expertise and authority are being much more questioned now than they used to be. Not long ago, if you went to the doctor, he told you what to do to cure your ailment – and that was that. Today, it’s more the other way around. My own clients bring me stacks of printouts from websites they’ve browsed through before scheduling their next consulting session.

At the same time, it seems, we are not able to translate this dramatic increase of knowledge into action. We have the data, we receive the instructions, but incorporating them in our daily lives is still another matter.

Take, for example, the government’s “Dietary Guidelines.” Never before in history were we given so much detailed information about our nutritional health. At the same time, the obesity crisis keeps getting worse. Why the disconnect? Obviously the messages are not getting through despite of the fact that they’re being conveyed in the most user-friendly ways.

Communication experts have long known that what they call the “entertainment factor” plays an important role in the learning process. To absorb information – any information ¬– our attention must first be aroused. Then it must be kept stimulated, so our attention span extends long enough for the message to be delivered. The news industry knows that, the advertising industry knows that, the entertainment industry knows that – they all live and die by how well they perform this fine art of keeping us, the audience, interested.

ABC News/Health has recently published a survey of how popular TV shows influence viewers’ behavior in terms of their health. They listed programs that played in a hospital or health care environment, like “Grey’s Anatomy,” a hospital drama. Of course, the “Biggest Loser” on NBC, which is about to start its 12th season, has to be mentioned. A new reality show, titled “Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition,” follows a similar format. “The Last Heart Attack,” an episode of CNN’s health series “Dr. Sanjay Gupta Reports” that included an interview with former President Bill Clinton on his heart condition, made a big splash. Analysts involved in these surveys say these shows do have an impact on the audience beyond viewing time.

When viewers follow a person’s struggle to lose weight and regain their health, they eventually come to think about themselves. “It’s about changing your mindset, [which] is going to be life-changing and personality-changing,” said Dr. Keith Ayoob, professor of pediatrics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, referring to the participants in “Extreme Makeover.” Some of these effects inevitably rub off on the audience, which, of course, is the point.

Undoubtedly, we are visual creatures. What we see influences us perhaps more than any other factor in our daily learning processes. Often that takes place in a subconscious manner. Here is an example: A few days ago, I saw the movie “Contagion,” a thriller about the outbreak of a lethal virus that ends up killing millions around the globe. As the title indicates, the infection is highly contagious and can be transmitted by coughing, touching and even by indirect contact, like holding on to a railing or pressing an elevator button. The initial symptoms are similar to a severe cold or flu before it gets much worse.

Although the movie theater was quite full, there was not a single cough to be heard throughout the performance – which is unusual, because hearing someone else cough can often result in similar reactions around that person; it’s psychologically contagious, too, if you will. I think it’s not far fetched to think that nobody in that audience dared to cough because of the drama that was unfolding in front of our eyes. And after the film, guess what? That’s right. Bathrooms filled up fast with people wanting to wash their hands as quickly as possible. They don’t do this normally, not to that extent.

So what can health care providers, like myself, learn from all this? For starters, we should certainly not dismiss the value of good entertainment. Despite of increased efforts to make health education more palatable, especially for younger generations, criticism persists that it remains impractical, elitist and out of touch with the real world. Many comments in the press on the newest version of the government’s nutritional guidelines for Americans, “Myplate,” reflect this continuing sentiment. Maybe, we experts should get out of the proverbial ivory tower more often and go the movies instead.

Timi Gustafson R.D. is a clinical dietitian and author of the book “The Healthy Diner – How to Eat Right and Still Have Fun”®, which is available on her blog, “Food and Health with Timi Gustafson R.D.” ( http://www.timigustafson.com), and at amazon.com. You can follow Timi on Twitter and on Facebook.

Note: This is a seattlepi.com reader blog. It is not written or edited by the P-I. The authors are solely responsible for content. E-mail us at newmedia@seattlepi.com if you consider a post inappropriate.